Re: Video recording of LilyPond talk at Chemnitz

[Jeff Barnes]

> It tends to feel like the classical case of "Somebody Else's Problem",
> and I am somewhat at a loss of how to deal with that without getting
> cynical to a degree that those who do support me don't deserve.

Man, I feel ya.

I started playing around with LilyPond recently. I like it. As someone who uses 
a lot of open source software, though, only a few projects have won a donation 
of my hard-earned bucks. I don't want to discourage you, but I think depending 
on individual users to support you is not going to work out the way you want. 
If this upsets you, read the GPL again. Sorry for being so curt and I'll 
probably get flamed for it, because LilyPond is so highly-regarded (and rightly 
so).

Wouldn't your time be more wisely spent trying to get corporate sponsors? I see 
a lot more success stories in the open source world where a corporation donates 
developers to projects the company have an interest in. As in, 1) convince a 
large publishing house they'd be better off relying on an open source music 
engraver, 2) get hired by them and 3) bingo, your dream job.

There are risks. The project could fork, the corporation may have different 
goals than yours, etc.

I'm just saying that if the LilyPond project doesn't support you, don't go down 
with it.

I'm probably saying a lot of crude things that offend people. I have a limited 
knowledge of LilyPond's history and culture. I'm sorry if I offend. I'm just a 
straight-shooter, that's all (and a newbie to this list).

Best regards,
Jeff




----- Original Message -----
From: David Kastrup <address@hidden>
To: Janek Warchoł <address@hidden>
Cc: address@hidden
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: Video recording of LilyPond talk at Chemnitz

Janek Warchoł <address@hidden> writes:

> On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 1:17 PM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:
>> Jonas Olson <address@hidden> writes:
>>> When donating, is there any mechanism in place by which funds will be
>>> donated only if some target level is reached by all donations
>>> together?  I'm speculating people might be more comfortable when they
>>> know that they will lose money if and only if it is precisely what
>>> makes the difference between you working and not working on LilyPond
>>> full time.
>
> In my opinion, the "cap thing" does exactly that.
>
> Besides, i think the core of the problems lies elsewhere:
> 1) most of the people thinks this doesn't concern them
> 2) many people think "i cannot afford / i'm not comfortable with
> donating 10 euro/month, so i won't donate anything".  This is really
> sad; Lily has hundreds (thousands?) of users and if they donated 1
> euro each month (doesn't this sound funny concerning how powerful
> LilyPond is?) it would make a big difference.

It tends to feel like the classical case of "Somebody Else's Problem",
and I am somewhat at a loss of how to deal with that without getting
cynical to a degree that those who do support me don't deserve.

The talk in Chemnitz was disturbing in that respect.  I was rather
straight about the need to finance my further contribution to LilyPond,
and there was no shortage of listeners coming to me after the talk,
letting some LilyPond problem getting solved by me (so it was clear that
they were actually using LilyPond on a regular basis), and afterwards
wishing me with somewhat shifty eyes most sincerely good luck in my
quest for funding, and that it would be a real shame if I were not
successful with it.  I did not win any funders there.  I suppose that in
real life, I act too polite and understanding to actually be successful
at what more or less amounts to rubbing people's noses in their
inconsistent expectations.

Of course, it does not win me any favors with victims of such behavior
from me in mailing lists, but there are bystanders who may get into
thinking.

I really wish I knew how to deal with that sort of cognitive dissonance
more gracefully, but grace has never really been my strong suit.  But
then check LilyPond's issue database for "grace", and you'll see that
this is par for the course.

-- 
David Kastrup

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